The next round of talks between the Philippines’ largest Muslim insurgent group and the government is a crucial step towards implementing a sweeping peace agreement signed in October. The Philippines: Breakthrough in Mindanao, the latest report from the International Crisis Group, examines how the pact signed by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the [...]
The Philippines: Breakthrough In Mindanao
↧
↧
Inequality And Poverty America Style: In Richness And In Health – OpEd
Irrespective of ones circumstances or stage of life, illness is never welcome, in America if your poor it can prove to be a total catastrophe, ending often in personal bankruptcy. “According to a report published in The American Journal of Medicine, medical bills are a major factor in more than 60% of the personal bankruptcies [...]
↧
Iranian Company Vying For French Refinery
The Iranian company Tadbir Energy is bidding to buy the Petit-Couronne oil refinery from the French company Petroplus, which has gone into insolvency. Despite sanctions against the Islamic Republic, Tadbir Energy, which has links to the Imam Khomeini Foundation, an Iranian charity organization, has put in a bid for the French refinery. Figaro reported the [...]
↧
Norway’s Democratic Example – OpEd
As the process and result in the trial of Anders Breivik shows, a true liberal democracy outlaws actions, not ideas – in contrast to totalitarian systems, which brands certain ideas as insane and/or criminal. By Cas Mudde The verdict of 24 August 2012 in the case of Norway’s most (in)famous citizen, Anders Breivik, has provoked a [...]
↧
Saudi Arabia: Forbes Highlights King Abdullah’s Global Influence
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah is the most powerful person in the Arab and Muslim world, according to the 2012 ranking of the World’s Most Powerful People by Forbes magazine. He also ranks seventh among the top 10 most powerful people in the world, according to Forbes’ latest list. UAE President Sheikh [...]
↧
↧
Egypt: Opposition Refuses Negotiations With Morsi
The Egyptian opposition has refused to negotiate with embattled President Mohamed Morsi. Activists called for mass rallies to be held on Friday to protest the newly written constitution that will be put to a vote next week. The National Salvation Front, an alliance between Egyptian opposition groups and several political parties, issued a statement saying [...]
↧
Mashaal Delegation To Hold Historic Gaza Visit
Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal arrived in Cairo on Thursday ahead of his first visit to the Gaza Strip, as a delegation of relatives went ahead of him to Gaza. Mashaal will travel to Gaza on Friday with two other senior leaders in the movement based in exile, Izzat al-Rishq and Mousa Abu Marzouq. They will [...]
↧
Sectarian Violence In Karachi: Is Pakistan Closer To The Precipice? – Analysis
By P. K. Upadhyay The much-feared observance of Muharram is over in Pakistan without any earth-shattering incidents of sectarian violence. Yet, the period did see Muharram-linked violence in various parts of the country, with as many as 38 Shia deaths, apart from dozens of casualties suffered by the civilians and security forces alike. Some other [...]
↧
US Unemployment Lowest Since 2008
The U.S. says its labor market advanced sharply last month and its jobless rate fell to 7.7 percent, the lowest level in nearly four years. The government said Friday that late October’s devastating superstorm Sandy had little effect on hiring, as employers unexpectedly added 146,000 new jobs in November. That was substantially more than economists [...]
↧
↧
US Warships To Monitor North Korean Satellite Rocket Launch
US warships are heading towards North Korea to get the “best situational awareness” prior to a controversial planned rocket launch. The communist state hopes to launch a satellite into orbit, allegedly using technology banned by the UN. Washington is keeping tabs on North Korea’s proposed rocket launch this month by sending warships equipped with advanced [...]
↧
US Unemployment Rate Edges Down To 7.7 Percent As Job Growth Slows
The unemployment rate fell to 7.7 percent in November, its lowest level since December of 2008. However, the immediate cause was a drop of 350,000 in the size of the labor market as reported employment actually fell by 122,000. The establishment survey reported job growth of 146,000. With the prior two months growth revised downward [...]
↧
Secrets And Lies: Victims Of Albanian Communism Denied Closure – Analysis
By Aleksandra Bogdani Former political prisoners want truth and compensation – but their quest has become entangled in the country’s murky politics. A free man after 17 years in a prison camp, Fatos Lubonja tried to retrace his past. He wanted to discover how, at the age of 23, he had ended up on communist [...]
↧
Sri Lanka: Comments On Heroes Day – OpEd
By Col. R. Hariharan November 27 used to be celebrated as the Heroes Day by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). On this occasion what is your take on those who lost their lives in the struggle for Tamil Eelam? It was instituted in commemoration of the death of the LTTE’s first battle casualty [...]
↧
↧
Obama Calls For Open Dialogue In Egypt
President Barak Obama has welcomed President Mohamed Morsi’s calls for dialogue with opposition figures. During a speech to the nation on Thursday, President Morsi invited all political forces for talks to put an end to the ongoing dispute over his 22 November constitutional declaration and the draft constitution. He said the constitution would be put [...]
↧
Exiled Hamas Leader Makes First Ever Visit To Gaza
Hamas’s exiled political leader, Khaled Meshaal, will make his first ever visit to Gaza on Friday for a three day tour, marking the group’s 25th anniversary. Meshaal’s visit follows a ceasefire that ended days of violence between Israel and Hamas-run Gaza last month. A statement from Hamas spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri, called Meshaal’s visit: “A [...]
↧
Ralph Nader: Having ‘Skin In The Game’– OpEd
Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s new tour de force book Antifragile: Things that Gain From Disorder is a frame-of-reference altering work that a Wall Street Journal reviewer confessed he would have to read “again and again” presumably to figure out its “somersaults of the mind,” to borrow a phrase from Yoko Ono. Antifragile, following Taleb’s Black Swan [...]
↧
Sri Lanka: Consolidation Of Rajapaksa Inc. – Analysis
By Col. R. Hariharan The walk out of Chief Justice Mrs Shirani Bandaranayake and her team of lawyers from a Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) hearing on an impeachment motion against her Thursday was an eloquent testimony to the charade being enacted in Sri Lanka in the name of democracy. Probably it is a matter of [...]
↧
↧
China Inflicts An Arms Race On Japan – Analysis
By Dr. Subhash Kapila “China is changing its roles and missions and Japan needs to do that as well. Our capabilities must be a match for Chinese capabilities. If we are asked (to respond to a military threat), we can’t say: ‘Sorry, we are not prepared for that’. This is not an acceptable answer”. – [...]
↧
The World’s Big Trees Are Dying
The largest living organisms on the planet, the big, old trees that harbour and sustain countless birds and other wildlife, are dying. A report by three of the world’s leading ecologists in today’s issue of the journal Science warns of an alarming increase in deathrates among trees 100-300 years old in many of the world’s [...]
↧
Russia And U.S. Try To Solve Syrian Problem
Representatives of the U.S. and Russia met in Dublin on Thursday to discuss Syria’s civil war, Reuters reported. In the meeting between U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Clinton said: “Events on the ground in Syria are accelerating…The pressure against the regime in and around Damascus seems to be [...]
↧
More Pages to Explore .....
